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Chris, I have some newer style factory Winchester 38-55 jacketed soft point ammunition, in the white with red and orange trim box. How would that perform on a deer, I know it’s slow but it shoots straight in my gun. T/R
Chuck,
The short answer is maybe, but have never tried. Ive dug out bullets from a hard clay embankment behind my target and could likley reload them again because of the lack of deformation. Shot a deer once that the bullet passed through it and hit a rock about 150 yards away and ricochet out into the pasture, didnt slow it down a bit.
Thought about making the existing hard cast into hollow points (If I had equipment beyond the cordless drill) but still not sure how much of a difference that would make. They have a Brinnel hardness of 18-21 according to their manufacturer. 20:1 lead that I plan to cast with has a BN hardness of about 10, wheel weights about 9, and 40:1 about 8.5 BN according to Lyman. Pure lead is BN hardness of 5. Want to see how the 20:1 works before maybe going to pure lead with paper patch. There’s always a hog or two to experiment on when the time comes.
1892takedown @sbcglobal.net ......NRA Endowment Life Member.....WACA Member
"God is great.....beer is good.....and people are crazy"... Billy Currington
TR said
Chris, I have some newer style factory Winchester 38-55 jacketed soft point ammunition, in the white with red and orange trim box. How would that perform on a deer, I know it’s slow but it shoots straight in my gun. T/R
With a soft point you may likely get some decent expansion although Ive never tried them in the 38-55. My buddy, who I load for his 32WS carbine with jacketed soft point bullets (Speer HotCor), says they are devastating to deer and hogs, but they are also pushing 2200 FPS. Great entry and exit wounds. He likes them too because brush is not an obstacle when tracking and dispatching deer one of their hunters wounded.
Thought about trying the Barnes jacketed soft point bullets but they only make them in .375 and .377 diameter. The bores in the 38-55’s I have are slugged to .380 diameter. They may work fine but again, never tried them. Im just looking for something that has better terminal performance not so much in penetration but in delivering a greater percentage of the bullets energy at impact and causing more internal damage before exiting.
The key regardless of bullets or velocities is shot placement, much harder at 100+ yards than it is at 50, at least with my failing eyes.
1892takedown @sbcglobal.net ......NRA Endowment Life Member.....WACA Member
"God is great.....beer is good.....and people are crazy"... Billy Currington
Chris, I like Your video hunting with the 38-55. Here are a couple of Northern Maine hunts. 
A 9 point taken in northern Maine with an old 86 in 33 wcf. My son shot the moose with a Savage 99 in 358 Winchester. A real good moose round.
Dana
Thanks Dana. That 33WCF is a stout enough cartridge. My father-in-law has taken a couple of deer and javelina with his having great results.
Been trying to get the photo of the moose to open but for some reason the site is super slow. Still trying to open the photo, 2 minutes and counting.
Chris
1892takedown @sbcglobal.net ......NRA Endowment Life Member.....WACA Member
"God is great.....beer is good.....and people are crazy"... Billy Currington
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